Guselkumab Linked to Improvement in Anxiety, Depression Symptoms in Psoriasis

For patients with psoriasis, treatment with guselkumab leads to greater improvements in symptoms of anxiety and depression compared with adalimumab and placebo, according to results published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

The study included participants with psoriasis (n=989) who were randomly assigned to receive guselkumab, adalimumab, or placebo. Participants who received placebo were switched over to guselkumab at week 16.

The researchers used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to assess anxiety and depression. Scores ranged from 0 to 21, with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms and scores ≥8 indicating instrument-defined anxiety or depression. The researchers assessed the severity of psoriasis using the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index.

At week 16, a significantly greater proportion of participants in the guselkumab group with baseline HADS-A or HADS-D ≥8 scored HADS-A <8 (51.4%; P <.001) or HADS-D <8 (59.2%; P <.001) compared with participants in the placebo group (25.9% and 27.0%, respectively).

At week 24, a greater proportion of participants in the guselkumab group with baseline HADS-A or HADS-D ≥8 reported HADS-A <8 (58.4%; P =.028) or HADS-D <8 (59.8%; P=.079) compared with participants in the adalimumab group (42.9% and 46.4%, respectively).

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